


The Ice Cream Dilemma

by Sakurucha



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, mc with the patience of a saint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 08:39:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7928116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sakurucha/pseuds/Sakurucha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>MC takes Saeran out for ice cream; what should have been a quick trip turns into counting the minutes because he can’t decide on a flavor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ice Cream Dilemma

Saeran had been standing there in silence for nearly fifteen… no, twenty minutes now. One of his hands lay against the glass display, the vibrant tubs of ice cream all lined up in two neat little rows behind it. His eyes bore into them, slowly scanning each tub’s contents, tracing each row to the end before repeating the process again.

Sometimes, for a barely perceptible second, his eyes gave pause; you watched him with bated breath, thinking that he had decided on a flavor…

Only for him to continue tracing the rows again.

Your exhale staggered, caught between a disappointed sigh and your efforts to stifle it. You had unwittingly begun counting the minutes after the first fifteen, both unsure how long he needed and worried he might never decide.

You weren’t the only one who was a bit… concerned for Saeran, to say the least. The two current employees, not busy with other customers, stood huddled at the far end of the counter away from you and Saeran. Though he took no notice of them, you, with little to distract yourself, most certainly did. One of them, female, nibbled her bottom lip as she stared at Saeran’s intensely focused expression. The other, a young man with an exasperated look on his face, was saying something–you couldn’t quite make it out–and gently patting her back. Neither of them stopped staring at Saeran, though, until they realized you had noticed them. When they did, the female clerk quickly busied herself as the male clerk rubbed his head apologetically.

For these twenty… no, twenty- _five_ minutes now, you patiently stood beside Saeran, who was still trying to decide. Or, at least, that was what you assumed he was doing. It certainly never occurred to you that he would take this so seriously. Admittedly, he looked so focused, with the faintest pout upon his lips, that it took quite the effort on your part not to smile, or worse yet, begin laughing.

Eventually, you took another deep breath… this might go on endlessly if you left him to his own devices. With that, you finally worked up the courage to break the ice.

Laying one of your hands a few inches away from his on the glass display, you tapped gently upon it with the tips of your nails to get his attention without startling him (as Saeyoung would often do in one of his hyper SEVEN-ZERO-SEVEN! performances). “Hey, Saeran…”

“… Hn?” His reply was barely audible, though acknowledging you with that minuscule utterance. His focus remained glued to his little “predicament” at hand, as if turning away from the glass would undo all his effort over the last twenty- _seven_ minutes.

“Why don’t we ask the clerks for samples? Then you could decide by taste instead of just staring at them!”

“… Samples?” He glanced at you with slightly pursed lips, one of his eyebrows arched high in what you could only assume was confusion.

Rather than elaborating, you called for one of the clerks. Since the young lady was very determined to busy herself, the man came over with a forced smile.

Saeran didn’t like him, nor did he like the way your brilliant smile lit the room _for him, that complete stranger_ , when you asked the _male_ clerk if Saeran could sample the different flavors to help him decide. He _especially_ hated the way the clerk’s face relaxed when he listened to you speak. If only that light of yours could belong to him and no other.. If only you would just control yourself, hide it maybe, around everyone else. Give them the cold shoulder. _Anything_ that meant you wouldn’t smile like this for them. He felt suffocated by his thoughts, but he knew better than to say anything. For all he knew, and he thought himself at least a bit of an authority on the subject with how often he saw you, this was how you behaved with absolutely everyone else.

God, he _hated_ that thought.

“Saeran? Say aaah!” When he snapped back to reality, you were nearly prodding a little spoon topped with ice cream into his mouth. “It’s going to melt if you don’t–oh.” He snatched the spoon from your hand and took the bite with a sullen expression.

You had specifically brought Saeran to this ice cream parlor because they prided themselves on exotic flavors… and boy did they have a lot of them, you realized, as the two of you had begun to sample them starting from the far left.

The espresso made him visibly pucker his lips and furrow his brows; you nearly laughed. He certainly wasn’t a fan of that one, and you noted to avoid giving him coffee in the future.

At least that was one fewer flavor to worry about.

The lavender… somehow managed to get on his nose without his notice. Instinctively, you took a handkerchief from your bag and wiped it away. Saeran stiffened and stared at you in response, eyes slightly widening as his cheeks flushed. Before he recovered, though, you already had some rocky road for him to try.

How could you do these things so casually with him? His mind raced with possibilities, blush ever darkening as he mechanically let you hand him other flavors. Since his expression hardly changed in response to the ice cream, you simply assumed that he hadn’t tasted “the one” yet… but really, he wasn’t tasting any of them, too stunned by your earlier actions.

In any case, the two of you were certainly testing the clerk’s artificial smile as Saeran sampled every single flavor.

After the last sample, you folded your hands behind your back, rocking gently on your heels, and looked up at Saeran. “Any idea yet?”

“… Still thinking.”

With a nervous laugh, you looked to the clerk. “Can we have a little while longer?”

“Yeah, no problem.” Honestly, he seemed rather glad to go off to the other side of the counter, attend to some other customers, clean some tables… though every so often he glanced back at Saeran, brow slightly furrowed in what looked more like uncertainty rather than frustration. Discreetly, you apologized in your mind for the trouble.

Okay, so the samples didn’t quite work.

Loosening your arms from behind your back, you stretched them overhead before again placing your hands beside his on the glass where he had returned them after handling all those spoons. “We can always come back and try the other flavors. All of them, if you want…” Together, you nearly added for emphasis, but held your tongue. “… So.” Your conversation dipped into silence again; fortunately, this silence was a short-lived one. He inclined his head slightly to the side so he could watch you from the corner of his eye. Thankful for his attention, you thought to speak softly again… but then had, what you thought, to be a brilliant suggestion.

You suddenly broke out into a wide smile. “Oh, I have a great idea! Why don’t we each get a cone, then we can share? One trip, two flavors!”

Too caught up in your enthusiasm, you didn’t notice how his eyes widened ever so slightly, mouth falling slightly open with a troubled look in his eye. Before you focused your attention upon him again, he turned away from you and back to the glass. “That’s not necessary… I’ll just have mine.” He quickly shut you down, though you swear there was a tinge of pink upon his cheeks.

“Well, I thought it was as good idea,” you said, with feigned sulking.

“Sharing food with you? That might be the _worst_ idea.” … Well that might have come out a little bit too harsh, he realized, upon noticing your shoulders shrinking just slightly. “I just… you’re you. And I’m me. I would rather just have my own is all…” Inside his head, he was cursing himself for completely botching that attempt at “consoling” you. As much as he swore he would behave civilly with you, he could never quite express himself right.

“Saerannn…” He watched as you took a deep breath, pressed your hands to your cheeks, and exhaled slowly. Though he expected to be scolded for his behavior, you instead laughed it off with a little shrug.

Honestly, he was thankful when you bounced right back into your chipper demeanor. “Anyway, you don’t need to worry too much about choosing a flavor! Just go with your gut, and you can try another one next time.”

He fell silent, thinking over your words with a vacant, unreadable expression. You held your breath and felt your chest tense, worried you had somehow offended him… again, maybe.

After what seemed to be some painstaking thought, he turned away from the glass to look directly at you and said the last thing you expected from him at this point. “… Then you pick for me.” You had to strain your ears a bit to hear his voice, but were relieved that it held no bitterness. Rather, you wondered if perhaps he was a bit ill as his cheeks reddened, his eyes darting away from yours.

Your momentary confusion was quickly dispelled by one of your wide smiles, one that made him wince just slightly from its vibrancy. You then wasted no time in replying. “Really? Okay!”

Saeran made no attempt to hide his displeasure when you removed your hand from where it was beside his on the glass. You hardly noticed, though, as you eagerly waved it in the air to flag down the female employee. “Excuse me,” you called in a voice he thought was all too enthusiastic for such a menial task.

_Oh well. At least it was the woman this time._

He ended up with a large scoop of strawberry cheesecake that he swore was sickeningly sweet and much too colorful to be realistic. Still, despite his protests, he refused your several offers to spare him the suffering and eat it in his place.

Really, he seemed all too eager to finish it, and more so to return with you the following week for a different flavor.


End file.
